New York Women In Film and Television Goes to the Oscars: THE MOLE AGENT

Screening Dates: Film available from Friday, April 9 at 9am through Monday, April 12 at 12:00am.

Panel Discussion: Monday, April 12 at 4pm EDT

Co-presented by Cinema Tropical 

Join NYWIFT for a screening of the Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary, The Mole Agent. Followed by a Q&A with Maite Alberdi (Director, Producer), Marcela Santibañez (Producer), and Julie Goldman (Executive Producer).

Sergio is a Chilean spy. Sort of. At least, he is offered the role of one after a casting session organized by Detective Romulo, a private investigator who needs a credible mole to infiltrate a retirement home. Romulo’s client, the concerned daughter of a resident, suspects her mother is being abused and hires him to find out what is really happening. However, Sergio is 83, not 007, and not an easy trainee when it comes to technology and spying techniques. But he is a keen student, looking for ways to distract himself after recently losing his wife.

What could be a better distraction than some undercover spy action? While gathering intelligence, Sergio grows close to several residents and realizes that the menacing truth beneath the surface is not what anyone had suspected. Maite Alberdi’s The Mole Agent is a stylish combination of an observational documentary and a spy movie, with sleek camerawork and wonderfully watchable characters. It’s a unique meditation on compassion and loneliness that will infiltrate your heart and never let go.

Register for free (a personalized link will be sent to each registrant)

Panelists:

Maite Alberdi (Director, Producer) studied Film and Aesthetics at Universidad Católica de Chile. She is a writer-director who has developed a highly particular style that achieves an intimate portrayal of the characters she works with, through everyday stories in small-scale worlds. Her renowned personal hallmark has made her one of the most important voices in Latin American documentaries. In IDFA 2011, she released her first feature The Lifeguard. Her second film Tea Time (funded by: ITVS, Berta Fund, Tribeca film Institute, FFA, CORFO) won more than 12 international awards and was nominated for Best Ibero-American Film at the Goya Awards in 2016. In that same year, her short I’m Not From Here won best short film at Visions du Reel, and was later nominated for the European Films Award. Her third feature film The Grown Ups received 10 international awards. Her fourth film The Mole Agent premiered in Sundance 2020, was in IDFA’s Best of Fest, won Best European Film at San Sebastian Film Festival 2020 and is now the Chilean Official Entry for the Oscars and Goya Awards 2021. Maite works as a teacher of documentary at the Universidad Católica de Chile and is the co-author the book Documentary Film Theory in Chile 1957-1973. Since 2018 she is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and a Global Shaper Young Leader of the World Economic Forum (WEF). 

Marcela Santibañez (Producer) is a Fulbright Scholar, she studied film at Universidad Católica de Chile. In 2014, she acquired her MFA in Film Producing at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television. She created and produced the TV show Chile Suena, winner of the Chilean National TV Fund. During 2012-2015 she resided in Los Angeles, where she interned at Participant Media and Tugg Inc. and produced a TV pilot and three award-winning short films. Upon her return to Chile, she started working as Head Producer in Micromundo, award winning director Maite Alberdi’s production company. She was in charge of the Goya Awards campaign for the film Tea Time. She produced the documentary Flow from director Nicolás Molina which premiered at Sheffield Doc Fest 2018 and won Best National Film at Sanfic Film Festival and Docs Valparaiso Film Festival. She is the producer of The Mole Agent and is now the executive producer of the upcoming film Gaucho Americano by Nicolas Molina and is producer of the films in development The Infinite Memory and The Workshop by Maite Alberdi. Since 2019, she’s been the director of programming at FIDOCS, Santiago International Documentary Film Festival.

Julie Goldman (Executive Producer) founded Motto Pictures in 2009. She is an Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning producer and executive producer of documentary feature films and series. She produced Steve James’ Emmy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated Abacus: Small Enough To Jai, and The Final Year, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, was released by Magnolia Pictures and broadcast on HBO. Julie is producer of Life, Animated  and executive producer of Weiner, both of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.  Life, Animated  won the US Documentary Directing Award, was nominated for the 2017 Best Documentary Feature Academy Award, and won three Emmys, including the award for Best Documentary in 2018.  Weiner won the US Documentary Grand Jury Prize and was shortlisted for an Academy Award.  Julie executive produced the Emmy-nominated Facebook series Humans of New York, Emmy Award-winning, Oscar-shortlisted Best of Enemies, and several Emmy-nominated films: 3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets, The Kill Team, Art and Craft and 1971. Julie also produced and executive produced: Emmy Award-winning The Music of Strangers, Emmy Award-winning Solitary, Enlighten Us, Southwest of Salem, Gideon’s Army, Manhunt, God Loves Uganda, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorryand Buck. Julie received the Amazon Studios Sundance Institute Producer’s Award and the Cinereach Producer’s Award.

Cynthia López (moderator) is an award-winning media strategist, and former Commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, where she implemented strategies to support film and TV production throughout the five boroughs. López is the recipient of many coveted industry awards including: 11 News and Documentary Emmy Awards, a Special Emmy Award for Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking, three Peabody Awards, and two duPont-Columbia Awards. In addition, she received the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) Award for Commitment to Corporate Diversity. Prior to working as Commissioner, López was Executive Vice President and co-Executive Producer of the award-winning PBS documentary series American Documentary | POV, and was involved in the organization’s strategic growth and creative development for 14 years. Her ability to forge strategic partnerships among corporate and public interest media has been a signature of her work. Notable partnerships include: New York Times, Reuters, Al-Jazeera Network, Discovery Communications, The Moth, Story Corps, Harpo Studios and ABC News, NIGHTLINE with Ted Koppel. López is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), and is proud to have spent her career collaborating with independent filmmakers across all portions of the film and television industry. She served on the Board of Trustees for the Paley Center, NYC & Company, Museum of the Moving Image and the Tribeca Film Institute Latin America Fund Advisory Board. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Latino Public Broadcasting, Manhattan Neighborhood Network and Hunter College IMA Program.